Tullos v. Mayfield
Tullos v. Mayfield
Opinion of the Court
This appeal is from a judgment in favor of appellees, who sued appellant Alfred Tullos, on the 15th day of July, 1916, in the district court of Liberty county on three vendor’s lien notes executed by appellant Alfred Tullos, on the 15th day of November, 1906, as part payment for certain real estate, appellees asking judgment for the amount of said notes, with interest, etc., and for foreclosure of the vendor’s lien retained. D. J. Harrison and H. E. Marshall were made parties defendant in said suit, it appearing that they were the grantees of appellant Tullos, to the extent of one-half of the land in controversy, the same having been conveyed to them before this suit was instituted.
The defendants pleaded the statute of limitation of four years, and that plaintiffs were barred from prosecuting this suit, because they had made an election in another suit of one of two remedies which were available to them, which estopped them from prosecuting this suit; also that the matters here in controversy. are res adjudicata. These defenses are presented under proper assignments of error.
It appears that appellees herein, on January 11, 1916, filed a suit against appellant Tullos and Robert Copeland, a tenant under Tullos, in trespass to try title to recover the superior title to the land in controversy, the nonpayment of the three notes in issue in this suit being the basis of the former suit, wherein appellees claimed the superior title to the land by virtue of their nonpayment. These notes were introduced in evidence upon the trial of the first suit for the purpose only of showing their nonpayment. Judgment was rendered for appellant for the land and costs in the first suit.
There are but three questions involved in the disposition of this cause: (1) Did the judgment in the first suit adjudicate the issues in this suit? (2) Are the appellees es-topped from suing upon the notes and foreclosing the lien by virtue of having elected to sue for the superior title under said notes? (3) Are the notes in question barred by the statute of limitation?
The former judgment is not a bar to this, because the vital points in this suit were not put directly in issue and determined in the first suit. A cause is not generally regarded as res adjudicata unless there be a concurrence of the following four conditions: (1) Identity of the thing sued for; (2) identity of the cause of action; (3) identity of persons and parties to the action, (4) identity in the *1074 quality in the persons for or against whom the claim is made.
That part of the act of 1913 (Acts 33d Leg. c. 123, § 3), which applies to, these notes reads as follows:
“Provided that the owners of all notes secured by deeds of trust or other liens, and the owners of all vendor’s lien notes reserved in deeds of conveyance which were executed subsequent to July 14, 1905, shall have four years after this act takes effect within which they may obtain such recorded extension as herein provided for, or bring suit to enforce the liens securing them if same are valid obligations, and not already barred by the four years’ statute of limitations when this act takes effect, and if such debt is not extended of record, or suit is not brought within such four years, or four years after they mature, they shall be forever barred from the right to extend such debt of record, or bring suit to enforce the lien securing the same, and further provided [that] if any such obligations executed subsequent to July 14, 1905, were barred by the four years’ statute of limitation on the 30th day of June, 1913, the owners thereof shall have four years within which to bring suit to enforce the lien securing the same; and providing those owning the superior title to land retained in any deed of conveyance or his transferee and those subsequently acquiring such superior title by transfer, shall have twelve months after this act takes effect within which to bring suit for the land, if their claim to the land is not otherwise invalid, and unless such suit is brought within twelve months after this act takes effect, they shall be forever barred from bringing suit to recover the same.”
Notes Nos. 1 and 2 were due November 15, 1907, and 1908, respectively, and were barred by the statute of four years’ limitation November 19, 1911, and 1912, respectively, adding three days of grace, and were therefore barred prior to June 30, 1913. Ap-pellees had four years from the date said act took effect within which to sue upon these notes, and to enforce the lien retained by them.
*1075 Appellants therefore had three full days of grace after said date within which to file the suit on the third note: Suit could have been filed at any time before midnight of November 18, 1913. Therefore the third note was a valid obligation, and was not barred by the four years’ statute of limitation when that act took effect, and appellees had four years from the date said act took effect within which to enforce it.
In the case of Watkins v. Willis & Bros., 58 Tex. 521, the note matured on March 18, 1877, and suit was filed on March 21, 1881. The court held that the debtor was entitled to three entire days after the day of payment and that limitation did not commence to run until after the expiration of the three-day period of grace. The case of McCutcheon & Church v. Smith, 194 S. W. 831, construes said act.
We have examined the other assignments of error in the record, and they are overruled. The judgment of the lower court is affirmed.
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Reference
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- TULLOS Et Al. v. MAYFIELD Et Al.
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